Our business involves delivering perishable goods to customers and I entered into an agreement with Lalamove through their corporate client program. They say there are perks for being a corporate client like rebates, and an assigned staff to assist us in case we have problems with their service.
I like their pitch so I signed-up.
Since Feb 18, we’ve booked several deliveries with them with mixed results with occasional issues that were not deal breakers.
However, a failed delivery happened and although I was anticipating it will happen eventually, I was not expecting that Lalamove will completely ignore my calls.
Here is what happened…
Last March 15, I requested a Lalamove service – car to deliver 3 packages of vegetables worth PHP 3,510 to a restaurant. There were 3 packages of vegetables loaded at the pickup point.
One sack was delivered, the other two for some reason was not delivered. The driver left with the remaining bags still in the Lalamove car before the restaurant staff could go back to carry the rest. Whether intentional or not, we don’t know.
The restaurant people informed me of the missing delivery so I contacted Lalamove chat support and they informed me that the Lalamove driver did eventually report a ‘lost’ cargo to their Lalamove office. Whether that’s because we were looking for it or before, is not clear. The point is Lalamove people knew about it but they never attempted to go back and deliver it. I kept chatting online with the support and they keep repeating to me it has been escalated and someone else will talk to me and was told to keep my communication lines open. They never did.
A day, later. No phone call or email from Lalamove. I called the assigned rep to my account (we are corporate clients) and she has never answered her phone (she used to). I called the sales people that I was in touch before and they initially said they’ll handle it. They never did. I kept calling the same numbers given to me and they never answer their phones for 7 days now.
I make a follow-up every day and this is all I got for 7 days already, the same message “Endorsed to internal team”. But nobody from Lalamove is attending to it.
The chat agents (different person usually) online keeps telling me every day that it has been ‘escalated’ and I should receive a call soon. What I find appalling is their support shuts down the chat session without resolving the issue. They simply say “It has been endorsed to other people and I should wait for an email from them”. blah blah blah and then they just leave the customer in a hurry without ever asking if we are done. It’s like putting down the phone on you while you’re still talking.
It’s now 7 days, and NONE from Lalamove ever responded to my claim for my lost cargo. They do not fulfill their promises.
The cargo can be replaced eventually but my trust in Lalamove to fulfill their supposed promise to “Deliver Faster” is a lie. Sometimes they do, but when they do fail which is possible, they hide from their clients.
The cargo is lost and Lalamove should compensate me but all they ever did was “wait for a call” which never came.
April 3, 2024. I made another follow-up via email.
April 6, 2024. Finally someone acknowledged my complaint after 3 weeks. They asked me again to provide supporting documents of my lost cargo. They responded that it will be subject to investigation and they will revert “as soon as possible.”
April 12, 2024. Lalamove finally “agreed to process the refund”. They transferred the refund to my account the following banking day.
While this issue seems to be an isolated incident, I can’t help but be dissatisfied with the way it was handled because it took them one month to resolve it.
Lalamove has a very poor after-sales customer support and I would not recommend them for corporate clients if you have some important products to deliver to your customers. There are other options like Angkas and Grab.